Transcript Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS): Documenting the Demise of Earth's Glaciers Using ASTER U.S.

Global Land Ice Measurements from Space
(GLIMS): Documenting the Demise of
Earth's Glaciers Using ASTER
U.S. Geological Survey Contacts
Hugh Kieffer, (520)556-7015 [email protected]
Rick Wessels,(520)556-7022 [email protected]
Jeff Kargel, (520)556-7034 [email protected]
See
www.GLIMS.org for more info
Partners: NASA, USGS, NSIDC, EDC and more than
50 collaborators in 23 countries
2.5 kilometers
The stagnating terminus region of Rongpu glacier in the Tibetan
Himalaya, a valley glacier flowing from the NW flank of Mt.
Everest. Glacial lakes have been rapidly forming on the surfaces
of debris-covered glaciers worldwide over the last decade.
Image above is a portion of a geometrically-corrected and radiance-calibrated ASTER Level 1B
VNIR false-color image (321RGB), acquired on October 30, 2000
First Results:
• Year 2000 ASTER confirmation of shrinkage in
many mountain glaciers
• Coordination of multinational program to begin
monitoring the status of all glaciers
• Detection of subtle differences among glacial lakes
(both temperature and sediment load)
• Demonstration of detailed glacier mapping
algorithms as first step toward partial automation
Anticipated Future Results:
• Global interactive geographic info system (GIS)
database of all existing glaciers (headed by NSIDC)
• Long-term annual assessment and monitoring of
glacier hazards
Project Background:
GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from
Space) is a global consortium whose purpose is to
determine the extent of the world's glaciers and the
rate at which they are changing. GLIMS has
requested more than 2000 ASTER (Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection
Radiometer) images over the Earth's glaciers and
ice sheets where the instrument gain is set to
compliment the requested latitude and time of
year. We’ve recently received hundreds of cloudfree, stereo images with 15-meter spatial
resolution in visible-near infrared (VNIR) that can
resolve ogives, crevasses, and small bodies of
water on the surface of glaciers.